Les Vents d’Anges Restaurant Review

Right… I can honestly say that it wasn’t me who found this fantastic restaurant but TripAdvisor. I mean, it was me on TripAdvisor who found this restaurant. It is currently number one out of 38 restaurants in this cute little village. Anyway, I will start with saying that we spent three days in Beaulieu-sur-Mer and we went to this restaurant both times when we were dining. That says it all, really, but I will show and tell more.

The first night we came here at about 7 pm and were able to get a table because it was relatively empty. Little did we know, that we were just lucky! Thirty minutes later, the whole place was full and buzzing with people, sounds and delicious food smells. We chose a table outside, in the narrow street, where cars still run but where the diners are greatly treated with flavours and looks of the local cuisine.

On the first evening we shared a starter which was “Moules au four, beurre à l’ail et le persil” which is grilled mussels in garlic and parsley. I honestly don’t remember the actual name of it in French, I tried to recreate it here, hopefully I succeeded, and also to my mom’s luck the menu was in four languages: French, German, English and Russian! Yes, in Beaulieu-sur-Mer there are so many Russians, that they put Russian language on the menu and one French waiter seemed especially excited trying to speak to us in Russian, I was asking and replying in my broken French, whilst my mom didn’t mind him saying a few words in our native language. It was quite funny, I must admit.

So! Our starter looked liked this:

And it was sooooo good!! I love mussels pretty much in anything, but garlic and parsley were my favourites I guess.

Then for a main I ordered “Magret de canard au miel” – duck filet with honey and I was amazed by how delicious it was and how fantastic it looked!

The duck was my favourite, as a side they brought different salads – rocket and lettuce, baked potatoes and slice of quiche on which I wasn’t very keen, just because I don’t particularly like quiche, that’s the reason. And and there was also this leafy vegetable/flower which was absolutely delicious but I forgot to ask the name of it.

We didn’t get any dessert because we were absolutely full with the starters and mains. We knew we’d be back the next evening. About the service I could say that it was one of the best services I got. I think it is a family owned restaurant, and the lady who brings in the dishes, is probably one of the owners or is the sole owner, and she is the loveliest, and she loved (or pretended to love haha) my horrible French, I really tried though and was absolutely proud of myself. Such a shame I didn’t think of taking a photograph of her.

The next evening, she, of course, remembered us, asked where we wanted to sit, we came back at the same time – at about 7, and it was half full already. This time we decided to go for the ultimate (or the most stereotypical) dish in France – the grilled frog legs or “cuisses de grenouilles cuites au four”. If we put aside that there is some frog consumption controversy as there is some evidence that frogs are in an ecological danger, I will remember what Doc Brown said in the first Back To The Future after glueing back the letter from 1985 and potentially screwing up future events and the space-time continuum: “Well, I figured, what the hell?”

And there is a special etiquette when eating frog legs. You take several with a fog fork and a big spoon (provided, as seen in the photo), and transfer the meat onto your own plate. There’s usually bread on the side too (it is included with every meal in this restaurant), then there’s usually a special tissue with some natural lemon disinfectant for your hands. Why the tissue? Because you eat frog legs with your hands! But before you dig in, with your own spoon and a fork you part bigger pieces of the legs, so that it’s more convenient for you to eat.

Do use the bread (freshly baked here, refillable too) to soak up the remaining bits and pieces along with the yumminess of the garlic and parsley and breading sauce. My mouth is watering as I type this! Hahaha

That was quite an experience!! I loved every second of it, and it was filling too! You would probably want to ask me if it is true what they say about the taste of frogs – that it tastes like chicken? The meat is very tender, it comes off a bone easily, the taste is quite unique and I suppose for people who haven’t tried many different food flavours, it might indeed taste “just like chicken”. Did I sound condescending right there? What I want to say is that you CAN say that all burgers taste the same, or all pastas taste the same, and you’d be wrong. But no, you won’t sound like a stuck up arsehole (pardon my French). There are these delicate flavours and you feel them more as you bite into those legs. The first noticeable taste is probably chicken – tender chicken one equivalent of meat, then you taste some sea in your mouth, and it is a good one, then there was something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but I loved it. This burst of dozens of flavours was splendid. Garlic and parsley added to it, of course.

Not many restaurants serve this dish in France, but this one does. And if you are in the neighbourhood, do come here and order it, you won’t regret it.

Then for my main dish I ordered “Saltimbocca a facon” which included veal escalopes (three or four, can’t remember, because I was in a food coma after I almost finished this dish – that’s how big it was), mozzarella, parma ham and sage. Same sides as yesterday. I must say that they have a lot of Italian dishes there, but we tried to order French ones, except for maybe this one which is, of course, Italian.

It was delicious of course! It was too much and maybe half-way through it I remembered that I was lactose intolerant, and asked the lovely lady who probably runs this place (because she looked like a boss, the nice type 🙂 ) , if I could take it with me, in my broken French again, she understood, even though this time I didn’t gesture much, I actually tried using words, not my hands. My mom ordered “dorade au four” which is of course the dorado and “au four” means baked. Before putting on a plate, de-boned, the lovely lady showed it on a skillet to my mom, so that we could appreciate the readiness of the “poisson”, and it was, in fact, cooked whole and not by fillets, which was a nice touch, we thought.

Ah, yes, it was cooked to perfection, I stole a tiny piece from my mom’s plate too. We didn’t order dessert this time either, said goodbye to the lovely lady, whose name I don’t know and it bothers me! We wished each other well, I forgot my doggie bag on the table, she came rushing after me with it, I was saying sorry the whole time and thank you as well. It was emotional. Emotional food is the best.

This is what the place looks like, and mostly the patrons were local, with a few tourists like us, of course.

Lovely place and atmosphere!

And here are a few pages from the menu, with all the languages.

So this is an absolute must-try restaurant here. The prices here are in euros. Do come here, you won’t regret it.

2 Comments

Olga, your descriptions were so well written it allowed me to taste each bite of frog and duck right along with you. Your success as a food reviewer is in no question. I, as always, eagerly await your next piece. Write on, write on!
Charles…